Dáil debates

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

3:07 pm

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Social Democrats support this Bill. We would like to see much stronger legislation but we will, nonetheless, support it. I want to strongly welcome the measures in the Bill which will provide some protection for all tenants as a result of the campaign run by the Union of Students in Ireland - Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn and following the Private Members’ Bill that was put forward by the Opposition, which the Minister has worked constructively on and acted on. I thank the Union of Students in Ireland - Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn for its work on that and thank the Minister for his work in responding to that.

The Minister has listened and acted on that, and I hope he will listen and act on other measures that are needed as well, very specifically and pertinently the 8% rent increase that a number of tenants are facing now. We were told a few weeks ago that this would be dealt with shortly and I certainly had the impression it would be dealt with under this Bill, so it is disappointing it is not being brought forward at this point. While I know the Minister intends to address it in the autumn, I think it needs to be acted on urgently at this point.

On the Bill, I will be bringing forward amendments to ensure there is a legal definition of what a deposit is, which is missing from the Bill. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say on that.

In terms of the limited protections, which involve making a self-declaration, they need to be extended further and they need to recognise there is a fall in income for many due to Covid. That fall in income will take time to recover in some sectors and will take longer, unfortunately, than 12 January for some. A number of people have gone into debt during the pandemic and it will take time for their incomes to recover, and that should be recognised in the Bill.

While I understand the rationale for the opt-out in the Bill in terms of bundles that are sold to international students for accommodation and college fees during the year, I have concerns that, because it is a general opt-out, this could be exploited. I appreciate there is an intention to correct that in the autumn. However, that opt-out is currently too broad and should be removed from the Bill at this stage. I will have amendments to that effect.

Blindboy recently commented on how striking it is that so many young adults in Ireland today are paying substantial mortgages each month, not their own mortgage, but that of their landlord. He noted that at the end of this process, they will not own any property and they are unable to obtain a mortgage of their own due to spending the bulk of their income on rent. We know that housing utility costs here are 78% higher than the EU average, that rents have almost doubled in the last decade and that more than 8,000 people are living in emergency accommodation, many of whom lost their home due to rents they cannot afford. We know that, since 2014, 38,000 people have become homeless and ended up living in emergency accommodation, most of whom had their last stable home in the private rented sector. During this time, the State has spent €1 billion on services for people experiencing homelessness.

Deputy McAuliffe is right to point out that that is not this Minister's sole responsibility, far from it, and it is not this Government's sole responsibility, far from it. Each Government and the entire political system has responsibility in this regard. Trying to pin responsibility onto particular individuals may make for point-scoring but it is not the approach that any of us should be taking. This is far too serious for that. What we all need to do is examine what needs to be done to fix this. If the Minister takes further action, I will fully support that.

What has happened on the Minister’s watch is that, in the last ten months, more than 1,100 households have been given eviction notices and only 475 people were able to avail of the complex and limited protections the Government brought in by making self-declarations. While they have had a value, it was not a sufficient value.

Research has just been conducted and published by Dr. Michael Byrne of UCD and Ms Juliana Sassi of Maynooth University on the experience of tenants in the private rented sector during the pandemic. One of the things they found is that the blanket eviction ban had only a limited impact on tenants’ perceptions of security within their home. The research found that overcrowding and poor quality housing conditions in the private rented sector were key issues for tenants during the pandemic, having impacts on their mental health and their physical well-being. A particularly good part of the research is that it gives voice to tenants and their experiences during the pandemic, when many of them were at home more, and when conditions in their rented accommodation had an increased bearing on them because they were not out and about as much, in work or in the other aspects of life.

I want to quote a few of the tenants in this research because it is particularly relevant to what we are discussing. Tenants were asked if they would describe their current property as feeling like home. One tenant replied:

Probably not, I can’t actually paint the wall and decorate, to make it more homely... Even though I have been here for 10 years, at this stage, there isn’t any decoration that I have put in there, if you know what I mean. At one stage we had to replace the carpet, I didn’t get to choose the colour or anything. It’s not my taste.

Another tenant said:

It doesn’t feel like a home, and in the back of my head I’d always like to have a home where, you know, you could paint your own walls and you can feel more relaxed in, and you can do things to. And I guess it’s always in the back of your head with rentals, especially if the landlord is very... Like [my current] landlord has a 20 page itinerary of things you can and cannot do. You can’t even hang pictures on the wall... It has affected more negatively the way I would feel about my home.

Another tenant said:

I don’t actually ever feel secure in a rental property because nine times out of ten they’ll be sold, or something will happen. So there’s no security of tenure in Ireland anyway for most renters, and that’s one of the really horrible things about it. You can’t make somewhere your home, when you know it’s never going to be. You know the lease here, there’s a stipulation in the lease that says you can’t even hang a picture, so it’s very hard to make somewhere home when you can’t even hang a ... picture.

We need security of tenure for people who are renting. We need to remove the constant worry and threat of eviction for people who are good tenants who are paying their rent. Tenants need to be able to hang a picture, paint their walls, and make themselves feel at home where they live without fear of eviction. In 2021, it is not too much for tenants to ask for measures to make them feel at home where they are working hard and paying their rent.

Another tenant stated:

I’ve learned not to think of anywhere as home... I tend not to get attached to places... it’s not worth the heartache. I don’t ever feel secure in a rental property... you can’t make somewhere your home...’.

Another stated:

It’s funny that. It’s my home, I’ve been there fifteen years, he’s a great landlord, but you’re never secure

Another stated:

Underneath it all I’d feel uncomfortable because I am renting, at any moment the landlord could turn around and sell... There’s no security renting in Ireland

Another stated:

It took me two years to put a flower pot outside because I had this weird thought in my head, if I start to make it look like a home then something bad would happen

Another stated:

‘no, “don’t improve it”, because you will be gone soon

Another stated:

It’s your home, but it’s not your home. Its where you live and you try and keep it nice, but at the same time you’re not going to invest a lot of money in it, like sometimes if you’re getting something for the garden you think, am I wasting my money here?

Another stated:

I don’t feel comfortable inviting people over, because I know the paint is coming off the walls, there’s mould in the bathroom.. It is embarrassing to invite people over to a place, when there are obvious maintenance issues.

They are all people living in our rented sector. They are all good tenants, paying their rent and contributing to society. Some have been in their rented properties for years, yet the underlying message from many is that they still do not feel that these are their homes despite all the contributions they are making. That is why we need the Government to urgently legislate for the private rented sector to improve security of tenure and indefinite tenancies. It is positive that the Government is indicating that will be done soon. It is regrettable, however, that it is not in this Bill at this point.

Since the eviction ban was lifted and widespread evictions have resumed, there has been a rise in the number of children and families living in emergency accommodation. That shows that the single most effective measure to protect against homelessness introduced in many years was the ban on evictions. It is crystal clear that the Government should seek to radically reduce the grounds for eviction, allowing evictions to happen only where there is failure to pay rent or anti-social behaviour, and that most other grounds should be removed urgently. We need to make sure there is a ban on rent increases for the next few years and that in the future, rent increases are strictly limited to increases in the consumer price index or a similar measure.

We support this Bill. I welcome that the Minister has acted on some of what students raised. We have much further to go and we need to do so urgently to ensure people who rent in Ireland feel secure in their homes and have the peace of mind that people who are renting in other countries have. When we achieve that, which must be done urgently, we will have taken significant measures to address the housing issues which face people in this country.

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